Altar servers

This ministry is open to boys & girls who have made their first communion and are aged 8 or above.

Training takes place in church and when completed, children are allowed to wear an alb and enter the sanctuary with regular servers; initially as an observer, before progressing to serve during Mass.  Once trained, Servers will be placed onto a rota controlled by the co-ordinator.

Servers who have attended regularly for at least six months and achieved a good understanding of the high standards required of them, may be invited to join the Guild of St. Stephen, patron saint of altar servers.
A special Altar Servers Mass takes place on the feast of St. Stephen – 26th December – when servers are blessed, enrolled into the guild and presented with the Guild Medal.

Parental consent is required for altar server training.

Children’s Liturgy Group

The Children’s Liturgy forms part of all our Sunday Masses and is designed to help children understand the message of the Gospel in a way that is more appropriate for their age. It is run by a group of Catechists from within the parish. During the Liturgy session we have time for prayer and reflection and the key is the Gospel.   The children explore the message of the Gospel through activities such as craft, drama and singing.   The children return to the church to present their work as part of the offertory.

The Catechists are all volunteers from the Parish community and are all DBS checked. If you would like to be part of the team, or want to obtain further information, please contact the Parish Office.

Eucharistic Ministers

Lay people are commissioned as Ministers of the Eucharist to help the priests distribute Holy Communion at Mass and to the sick and housebound. Lay Ministers are required to attend a training course prior to commissioning. The priest will normally invite people to undertake this ministry.

    Readers

Those who proclaim the Word of God in the liturgy form an important group in the parish. If you would like to be part of a Reading Team, please contact the Parish office who will pass your details to the Reader Co-ordinator for the Mass you attend.

Welcomers

All Sunday Masses have Welcomers who greet parishioners as they arrive, distribute the Newsletter, arrange for members of the congregation to take up the Offertory Gifts, supervise collections and ensure the church is left tidy after Mass. If you would like to join one of our Welcome Teams then speak with one of those already involved at the Mass you attend or the parish office.

Counters

Each Sunday we make our offerings at Mass. The money from the offertory and any second collection must be counted and bagged before it can be banked. Contributions in envelopes must also be recorded so that they can be handled by the Gift Aid administrator. There are a number of teams who undertake this task – normally starting around 5.30pm on a Sunday evening – and each team will be on a rota. If you are interested  please contact the parish office

Our Audio-Visual Team is responsibe for creating and presenting the slides that are shown at Mass each weekend.

They also prepare and present slides for Funerals, Weddings and other special occasions.

Another part of the group are the Livestream operators who enable those who cannot physically join us at church to still be part of our spiritual celebration each week.

If you think this is something you would like to be involved in, then contact the parish office with your details either by email or telephone  or by emailing the AV team direct at:  av@englishmartyrsrdg.com